On July 5, 1991, William Fred Davis, 68, and his wife Margaret Davis, 67, were brutally beaten to death in their rural Rutherford County, North Carolina home. The assailant, Phillip Lee Ingle, entered their unlocked residence armed with an axe handle. He first encountered Margaret in the kitchen and fatally beat her, then went to the den where William, unaware of the earlier attack because of the television volume, was also beaten to death.

Initial suspicion centered on the Davises’ 29-year-old son-in-law Joey James Melton because of reported family tensions and his past drug use and psychiatric treatment; Melton was never arrested. Investigators later linked the killings to Phillip Lee Ingle after he committed a similar double homicide nearby in August 1991 and was arrested. Ingle confessed to both sets of murders, saying he thought the victims were demons and that he was carrying out divine justice. He was indicted October 14, 1991, found guilty at a February 1993 trial, and the jury recommended death. He was executed by lethal injection on September 22, 1995.

Does anyone have memories of the Davises or details about the case that could add context to what happened that July night?